Your complete guide to choosing a domain name for your website, the most important tips you will need and the most important tools that will help you in this task.
Many people believe that the process of choosing a domain name for their website is random and simple, but this is not true at all. Choosing a website domain name involves a set of basics and notes that you should not ignore. Especially since the domain name is something that cannot be changed and will accompany you in your entire journey of designing your website. Then use it to display your brand, articles, or whatever you are thinking of presenting from this website. Therefore, in this article, we have summarized the most important points that you should consider when choosing a domain name for your website.
Why is choosing a domain name important?
How to choose a domain name for your website
Tools to help you choose a domain name
What is a domain name?
A domain name is a unique and distinctive name for each website, which can be used to access a specific website using an internet browser. It is a set of characters consisting of letters, numbers, and separators that are found after (www.) and before the extension (.com or .net, for example). It can also be said that the domain name is the fixed address of your website. Since this address has assets, it can be purchased, and it has a fixed appearance that does not change, and is unique for each website.
Why is choosing a domain name important?
The domain name of a particular website is the interface that represents this website. It indicates the content and purpose of the website in two words or less. In addition, choosing a distinctive domain name helps attract a larger number of Internet users to your site. The domain name can also carry the brand name, which will direct the audience to your site while you appear in their search results. However, the majority of those who create websites believe that choosing a domain name is a random process that can be done simply and without restrictions. This is not true at all. Indeed, the domain name is one of the things that must be chosen carefully when creating our website.
How to choose a domain name for your website
First, make it easy to spell and type your domain name.
When you want your website to spread widely and be talked about everywhere, it is natural to make the domain name easy so that when asked about it, it will be easy to infer and signify. This helps in word-of-mouth marketing, which spreads the name of the site among users. Since the domain name with the extension is one of the first ways to search for the site through the Internet browser. Imagine how important that would be!
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Make sure the domain name is not being used by competing companies
Before starting anything, do an online search for trademarks and trade names. Using a previously used domain name will lead to legal and other problems that will harm your website. Competitors may also have the same domain name with a different website name, so do not link the two.
Furthermore, most hosting purchasing sites will not allow you to purchase a reserved domain name. It will not be available for purchase or reservation when searching. Since purchasing a trademark is expensive, purchasing a suitable domain name will also be expensive. Make sure not to spend the two costs on a previously reserved name so that you do not lose your money while you are on the way.
Check social media too.
It is very nice to have your own brand name included in the domain name on social media sites even. Social media sites are able to spread your products and promote your brand by 80%. It is obvious that when any user reads your domain name and brand, he will think about searching for you through social networking sites, whether you provide it on your site or not. It would be ideal to be able to search by the same name every time! In addition to Therefore, the user may see an advertisement on social media sites through a page bearing the name of your brand. It would also be ideal for the user to know that this social media site is affiliated with you through your brand present in the site name. How shameful it is for him to want to follow this social networking site because he thinks it is specific to your brand, when that is not true!
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Avoid adding numbers or links if possible.
You might think that when the domain name you want is already reserved, it’s ideal to add a number or a hyphen in the middle to get a new domain name. However, that is not true. Adding links or numbers may make it difficult to memorize or write the domain name, which makes it difficult to market your website name correctly.
This also applies to the use of double characters such as pressStart.com, which will be confusing for most people when typing the domain name to search for the website.
Choose the most popular TLD.
Choosing the extension or TLD is the part to the right of your domain name that plays an important role in the popularity of your domain name. The top-level domains .com, .net, and .org are the most famous and most widely used, so most consider them the safest to use.
These extensions differ from each other depending on the purpose for which they are used. Where .com refers to a business, while .org refers to an organization. .net refers specifically to network businesses. However, you can use any of them for your appropriate purpose and there will be no problem. There are also a lot of web extensions that can be used such as .store, .shop, etc. In addition, you can use the extension that bears the name of the country, such as .us, for example, if you want to publish your site in more than one version to serve different geographic languages. This largely applies to online store websites, which you can see in more than one version specific to each country, where the currency and language of the site are in the version specific to a particular country.
A shorter name is always better.
Make the domain name as short as possible. Ideally, making the domain name 12 characters long is the best solution ever. The length of the domain name is closely related to the traffic the site is exposed to. Therefore, to get the best traffic, keep the domain name as short as possible. If you cannot find a suitable short name, you can use your brand name as the domain name, so that this name does not exceed 12 characters.
Distinctive names are better than generic names
This is because it is quickly stored in memory, in addition to being attractive to the user. By general name, we mean the name that does not contain any details, such as Insurance.com, for example. This name can be made unique by typing BestInsurance.com.
Check the history of the domain name.
Before registering the desired domain name, check its history on websites. This helps in several points, the first of which is discovering whether this domain name has been used before on a site similar to the purpose of your site, which will make your site appear in search results. The exact opposite will happen if the domain name has been used before on a site that provides unethical content. You will also be interested in knowing the history of cybersecurity threats that a site that has the same domain name as your site may have been exposed to. In this case it would not be a good idea to use a domain name.
Check for support at your domain name registrar.
Since you are starting from scratch and creating a new website, you will have little to no experience, and errors can appear everywhere. It may be specifically related to the domain name registrar, and here we mean the company or website from which you purchased the domain name. Thus, it will be necessary to provide support from the registrar around the clock to respond to your inquiries and provide you with the information you need. In addition, it would be good that they are quick to fix errors and solve problems so that your website never stops working.
When choosing a domain name, make a close relationship between the domain name and the purpose of the website.
By matching the domain name and the purpose of the website, users will be able to easily verify whether this website serves their purpose when it appears in search results or not. It may not be the desired target for sure, but because it appeared in the user’s search results, you can know that it will be the desired target to a large degree. The presence of a clear and clear domain name will encourage the user and make him immediately click on this domain name to browse the site.
Make sure you purchase the domain name right away before it is reserved.
Thousands of domain names are purchased daily and are constantly reserved, and their prices may rise as the price of the keywords they contain increases. Most of the obvious and easy domain names are already reserved, so searching for a clear and short name will be extremely difficult. Therefore, give this task enough time, and it is preferable to do it as quickly as possible.
Pay attention to the validity of the domain name when purchasing it.
The validity of the domain name varies depending on the source from which you purchased the hosting. As each domain name has a specific validity, make sure that the provider you purchased from provides you with a grace period so that if the domain name expires, you will be able to renew the domain name. This is to avoid losing the site completely. Additionally, having an auto-renew option is great if you don’t have time to monitor a domain name’s expiration date or have more than one website to manage.
Verify that domain name transfers are available.
A domain name transfer refers to the registrar changing the domain name, i.e. changing the source from which you purchased the domain name. The new registrar maintains all relevant information related to the domain and the registrar. Note that domain names cannot be transferred if they have been registered with the previous registry for 60 days or more. In any case, you may need to transfer the domain name to another registrar because you find a more suitable cost or higher features. It will not be a good idea to remain stuck with your domain name registrar for life.
Use tools to help you choose a domain name.
These tools can save you all the previous steps that we mentioned, by applying them automatically without you asking them to do so. With these tools (for a small fee) you will be able to get a problem-free, beautiful and short domain name that matches the purpose of your website and meets your needs. All you have to do is select some fields to choose the primary purpose of the site and if there are specific preferences, and then these tools will provide you with a wide range of domain names that can suit your needs. Then you can choose your own name. Not only that, but these tools will provide great features in various domain name matters such as security and support. In addition to advantages related to cost and more.
However, today these tools have become widespread and very numerous. Choosing among them has become very difficult. Therefore, we have summarized the best tools currently available, which will offer you the best features at the lowest price. Here are these tools..
Best domain name selection tools
There are many tools that will shorten the previous steps for you, and they can provide you with a suitable and distinctive domain name for your site within minutes. To learn about these tools, you can review our comparison of the best web hosting platforms, which will enable you to know the advantages and disadvantages of each tool and its prices to choose the most appropriate tool for your business, or here are some tools and their most important features:
Namecheap.com
namecheap is one of the leading ICANN approved domain registrars. It has an easy-to-use interface, a direct control panel for managing services, and competitive price plans. Through the shared hosting plan, you can get a free domain name and a free SSL certificate. This is in addition to a 24/7 chat support service to answer all your inquiries and solve all your problems. They also guarantee 100% uptime with a 30-day money back guarantee if you don’t like the service.
Godaddy.com
Godaddy offers reliable web hosting on Windows and Linux servers, and although you will have to pay a little extra for more features, it is a great option when it comes to choosing a domain name for your website. Godaddy provides customer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is suitable for beginners due to its medium and low price plans. In addition, the site allows you to register up to 500 domain names under one account. In addition, the process of purchasing a domain name does not take more than three minutes and three simple steps.
Bustaname.com
“The project came about out of a clear need for a better way to find domains,” Bustaname officials say about why they set up a service like this. “After launching so many other web services, the hardest part was coming up with a domain name that wasn’t taken but could be easily saved.” Thus, through a very clear and easy-to-use interface and a free search tool, Bustaname will help you find a distinctive domain name that is easy for users to remember. Through Bustaname, you will be able to quickly search through thousands of domain names and then find out what ones are available and purchase them at competitive and appropriate prices.
Nameboy.com
Their free domain name generator will help you search among thousands of domain names available. Nameboy works according to artificial intelligence algorithms to find you the best domain names ever. Through this tool, you will also be able to confirm whether a specific domain name is available or not. After choosing the domain name, all you have to do is fill out the form and payment details, and you will get your domain name.
Zyro.com
An ICANN-accredited domain name registrar offers fair pricing and transparent policies. The process of purchasing a domain name with Zyro is simple and easy, all you have to do is go to their website and then enter the domain name you want in the box at the top of the page. Then you will see a list of available domain names, choose the name you like, enter your payment information, and then follow the instructions in front of you to complete the purchase process.
Squadhelp.com
Squadhelp has been recognized as one of Inc.’s Most Innovative Companies. It uses the power of artificial intelligence to create many new features and bring them to the market. With this tool you will be able to not only buy domain names, but also sell them. Squadhelp also offers 24/7 customer support, with an average response time of less than 3 minutes!
Finally, choosing your domain name is a very important step in building your visual identity online. Therefore, the domain name should be distinctive, simple and easy to remember. So, to achieve this goal, choose the domain name carefully and remember that the domain name is the digital address that enables people to find you online. By applying the ideas and tips mentioned in this article, you will be on the right path to choosing a distinctive and unique domain name that successfully expresses your identity.
